Governance is vital in the success of a project and this article covers what good project governance looks like and shares some tips to improve this often-overlooked factor in successful business change initiatives.
Prince2 breaks governance into three layers being:
| Layer | Description |
| Directing | If a project is of any reasonable size then this is the realm of the Project Board or Steering Committee and the person responsible at this level is the Project Sponsor. |
| Managing | This is the realm of the Project Manager. Unless the project is very small, your Project Manager will almost certainly not be the Project Sponsor but they may also be the ‘Team Manager’ responsible for Delivery (see below). |
| Delivery | Under Prince2 there is a place for a ‘Team Manager’ responsible for the actual build of products under the project. This could be an IT Lead or Development Lead but is often also the Project Manager. |
Whether you’re an advocate of Prince2 or any other methodology, few would argue the necessity of good governance towards projects success and it’s this Directing Layer and the role of the Sponsor and Steering Committee that we will explore in this article.
Firstly, what is the ‘problem statement’ in this space? We summarise some of the more common pitfalls in relation to the role of Sponsor and Steering Committee below.
| Common Pitfall | Explanation |
| The Sponsor is new to projects and unfamiliar with the nuances of the role. | Sometimes the Sponsor can be an incredible manager of people, very familiar with the business and subject matter and incredibly keen to ensure project success but still be unsuccessful as a Sponsor. The reason being that they are not sure what information they should be looking to receive about the project, unclear how to really tap into whether things are running well and just more used to running things in a Business-As-Usual mode. |
| Sponsor lacks necessary seniority/authority to drive decisions | There are times when a Sponsor may be ‘appointed’ by a senior executive. The senior executive doing this appointment should probably be the Sponsor themselves but they believe they are ‘too busy’ and so appoint someone as Sponsor in their stead. When this happens the appointed Sponsor can often lack real authority to make decisions or work with others to drive decisions. |
| Sponsor is disengaged | Another potential side effect of having a senior executive appointing a Sponsor may be that the appointed Sponsor doesn’t really share the passion that the senior executive has for the project. Not having much time available is one thing – and there are ways around this since a Sponsor role should be far from full time – but having a Sponsor that doesn’t really want to drive the project is a much more serious issue. |
| Sponsor is too hands-on | The flip side of a disengaged Sponsor is one that becomes too hands-on. This person starts to assume the role of Business Lead, Project Manager, Business Analyst, etc. and effectively undermines the authority and effectiveness of these other roles. |
| Steering Committee is not receiving the right information | This could be an issue with the Steering Committee being unsure of the information it should be receiving, or it could be the project team not being comfortable providing information to the Steering Committee. Whatever the cause, the result is a Committee without the required information to make decisions. |
| Steering Committee is too fractured and not aligned | A Steering Committee should have some diversity of representation. It is healthy to have a mix of representatives from a range of different business units that may be impacted. What isn’t healthy is when these individuals form factions and are at continual loggerheads regarding what is most important and the Sponsor is unable to exert authority to bring the committee together. |
| Steering Committee members are unused to their role |
Many might have been exposed to a ‘committee’ in some other non-project form. Whether that’s a Social Committee or their school P&C, tenants committee, etc. We contend that a project Steering Committee is very different to the more permanent standing committees and some members may be unfamiliar with the nuances of what is required of them in this role. |
Key pointers to avoid the above pitfalls :
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Ensure a good, regular communication channel is established between Project Manager and Sponsor.
This should be outside of regular Steering Committees. As the key people from these two layers, the Sponsor and Project Manager need to see eye to eye and be working together and building trust. Getting free time from a Sponsor can sometimes be difficult but even a 15 minute catch-up one morning each week to establish some rapport would help.
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Ensure there is some form of education available on the requirements of a good Sponsor and for all roles within the project.
Having a standard description of these roles as part of some project framework document is good but having a ‘Leadership Meeting’ at the start of the project and reaffirming all these is recommended.
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Ensure you have a Project Manager that has the courage and seniority to speak truth to power when needed and in an appropriate manner.
This can be tricky since the Sponsor is almost always the more ‘senior’ of the two but having a Project Manager that knows the right way to broach when things aren’t working can make all the difference.
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Invest in developing a standard Steering Committee pack so that Steering Committee members are used to seeing the same information in the same fashion regardless of the project.
This shouldn’t be too detailed but Steering Committee members should have access to the detail if required in the form of Appendices to the pack or via some other form. Note: A good Steering Committee pack should not just focus on letting Steering Committee know what’s on at the moment, it should always be future-focussed as well.
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Aim for a no-surprises approach in Steering Committees.
Senior people on Steering Committees never like to feel like they’ve been ‘ambushed’. If there are topics to be raised that may spark any sort of controversy, try to ensure parties are given a heads-up beforehand – not just with an early copy of the pack but work with the Sponsor to have chats with other members to discuss the topics and how the Steering Committee might play out.
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Record Steering Committee decisions.
Full word-for-word minutes are generally not required – or appropriate – but a record of key items discussed and decisions made will often come in handy later on in the project.
Good governance is critical to project success. The best project manager and project team can be wasted if the governance layer is unable to support them, unable to make timely decisions or continually flip-flopping on what the priorities should be. Whilst making changes in governance can be difficult, getting this right is often the key to project success.
